Texas manufacturers reported a mixed October, as the Dallas Fed’s general business activity gauge rose while the production, new orders and shipments indexes fell, showing gains in broader conditions alongside weaker factory and demand readings.
The General Business Activity Index added 3.6 points to 13.4 from 9.8 in September. The production index moved in the opposite direction, falling 13.7 points to 15.8 from 29.5. Its October reading remained above the series average of 9.7, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, released Oct. 26.
The survey reports separate measures for overall business conditions, production, new orders and shipments. That allows the broader assessment to improve while the production measure declines, as it did in October. The general activity reading reflects manufacturers’ reported conditions, while the production index tracks their reports on output.
The new orders index fell to 9.3 from 30.7 in September, and the shipments index declined to 8.4 from 24.8. These readings are index values, not percentage changes in output. The Dallas Fed calculates each measure by subtracting the share of respondents reporting decreases or worsening conditions from the share reporting increases or improvements. The positive October readings for new orders and shipments mean reports of increases still outweighed reports of decreases in those categories, despite the lower index values.
The Dallas Fed gathered responses from 64 of 114 manufacturers from Oct. 13-21. The survey had appeared on EconoTimes’ Monday calendar of U.S. economic releases. The next survey release is scheduled for Nov. 30.
